Culture is composed of discrete units called conventions

Evidence

The literary scholar Raymond Williams called culture “one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language.” Indeed: the 1952 book Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions alone offers 150 definitions. Even our colloquial usage remains ambiguous: Is culture a way of life, fine art, pop culture, or organizational norms? While we may be no closer here to settling on a singular definition, we at least know what culture is “made of”: conventions are the individual units of culture. Everything we point to as “culture”—customs, traditions, fashions, and fads—exists as conventions. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 142

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the book’s core operative definition: conventions are the atoms of culture.
• XREF: connects to: Colonial rule operated through habit-taking into existing conventions and commonsense; Individual customs interlock into broader macro-conventions called paradigms — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 138; Conventions are arbitrary practices that coordinate choices where several options are equally viable — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 119

Broader Connections

• Conventions are arbitrary practices that coordinate choices where several options are equally viable #expands (0.90) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 119
• Individual customs interlock into broader macro-conventions called paradigms #expands (0.82) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 138
• Colonial rule operated through habit-taking into existing conventions and commonsense #exemplifies (0.75)